| Literature DB >> 28832594 |
Lixia Ge1, Chun Wei Yap1, Reuben Ong1, Bee Hoon Heng1.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To assess the relationship between various social isolation indicators and loneliness, and to examine the differential associations that social isolation indicators, loneliness have with depressive symptoms.Entities:
Mesh:
Year: 2017 PMID: 28832594 PMCID: PMC5568112 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0182145
Source DB: PubMed Journal: PLoS One ISSN: 1932-6203 Impact factor: 3.240
Fig 1Sample design and participant selection process.
Sample characteristics by severity of isolation and loneliness (N = 1,919).
| Variable | Overall | Severity of isolation,% | Loneliness,% | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | % | Isolated | High risk | Moderate risk | Low risk | Not lonely | Lonely | |||
| 59.3 | 51.4 | 47.0 | 46.3 | <0.001 | 51.0 | 50.8 | 0.079 | |||
| 21–39 | 569 | 29.7 | 12.7 | 26.3 | 38.8 | 40.8 | 29.3 | 35.2 | ||
| 40–59 | 696 | 36.3 | 35.7 | 41.8 | 34.1 | 34.1 | 36.7 | 29.5 | ||
| 60–74 | 477 | 24.9 | 33.3 | 23.6 | 23.0 | 19.5 | 25.1 | 21.3 | ||
| ≥ 75 | 177 | 9.2 | 18.3 | 8.3 | 4.1 | 5.6 | 8.9 | 13.9 | ||
| 0.885 | 0.699 | |||||||||
| Male | 842 | 43.8 | 44.2 | 43.2 | 45.1 | 42.8 | 43.7 | 45.5 | ||
| Female | 1,077 | 56.2 | 55.8 | 56.8 | 54.9 | 57.2 | 56.3 | 54.5 | ||
| <0.001 | <0.001 | |||||||||
| Single | 490 | 25.6 | 19.2 | 21.6 | 29.5 | 31.6 | 24.7 | 37.7 | ||
| Married | 1,225 | 63.8 | 64.1 | 68.7 | 59.9 | 63.0 | 65.5 | 40.2 | ||
| Widowed/ Divorced | 204 | 10.6 | 16.7 | 9.7 | 10.6 | 5.4 | 9.8 | 22.1 | ||
| 0.010 | 0.563 | |||||||||
| Chinese | 1,506 | 78.5 | 76.2 | 79.5 | 81.2 | 77.5 | 78.6 | 77.2 | ||
| Malay | 151 | 7.9 | 11.9 | 7.6 | 5.6 | 6.2 | 7.7 | 10.6 | ||
| Indian | 213 | 11.1 | 10.1 | 9.9 | 10.8 | 13.3 | 11.2 | 8.9 | ||
| Others | 49 | 2.6 | 1.8 | 3.0 | 2.4 | 3.1 | 2.5 | 3.3 | ||
| <0.001 | 0.157 | |||||||||
| No formal education | 229 | 11.9 | 26.3 | 10.6 | 4.6 | 5.6 | 11.6 | 17.9 | ||
| Primary | 238 | 12.4 | 19.4 | 11.8 | 10.8 | 7.5 | 12.5 | 11.4 | ||
| Secondary (sec) | 571 | 29.8 | 33.5 | 33.6 | 26.2 | 26.0 | 30.1 | 24.4 | ||
| Post-sec&above | 881 | 45.9 | 20.8 | 44.0 | 58.4 | 60.9 | 45.9 | 46.3 | ||
| <0.001 | <0.001 | |||||||||
| Employed | 1,222 | 63.7 | 50.4 | 64.3 | 72.4 | 68.5 | 64.7 | 48.8 | ||
| Unemployed | 81 | 4.2 | 8.7 | 4.1 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 3.7 | 12.2 | ||
| Inactive | 616 | 32.1 | 40.9 | 31.6 | 25.6 | 29.6 | 31.6 | 39.0 | ||
| <0.001 | <0.001 | |||||||||
| Alone | 96 | 5.0 | 7.1 | 5.5 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 5.0 | 5.7 | ||
| With spouse, no child | 275 | 14.3 | 17.5 | 13.3 | 13.2 | 13.1 | 14.9 | 6.5 | ||
| With child(ren), no spouse | 174 | 9.1 | 14.3 | 7.4 | 10.4 | 4.2 | 8.6 | 16.3 | ||
| With spouse &child(ren) | 890 | 46.4 | 43.1 | 51.7 | 43.7 | 47.5 | 47.4 | 32.5 | ||
| With others only | 484 | 25.2 | 18.1 | 22.1 | 29.0 | 31.5 | 24.3 | 39.0 | ||
| 14.4 | 30.2 | 12.0 | 10.8 | 4.4 | <0.001 | 13.0 | 35.8 | <0.001 | ||
| <0.001 | 0.433 | |||||||||
| Never smoked | 1,465 | 76.3 | 70.9 | 74.4 | 77.4 | 82.1 | 76.6 | 71.5 | ||
| Current smoker | 240 | 12.5 | 14.5 | 13.4 | 11.1 | 11.2 | 12.4 | 14.6 | ||
| Former smoker | 215 | 11.2 | 14.7 | 12.2 | 11.5 | 6.7 | 11.0 | 13.8 | ||
| 517 | 26.9 | 13.3 | 30.0 | 34.7 | 30.8 | <0.001 | 26.9 | 27.0 | 0.981 | |
| 1.6 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.7 | <0.001 | 1.0 | 1.7 | <0.001 | |||
| (1.7) | (1.3) | (1.3) | (1.3) | (1.4) | (2.0) | |||||
| 5.0 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.8 | <0.001 | 1.7 | 7.4 | <0.001 | |||
The above numbers reflect weighted column %.
ap-value obtained using Chi-square test.
bp-value obtained using Kruskal-Wallis test.
cp-value obtained using Independent-samples Mann-Whitney U test.
Distribution of social isolation indicators by extent of loneliness.
| Not lonely (n = 1,796) | Lonely (n = 123) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | % | n | % | ||
| Single | 444 | 24.7 | 46 | 37.7 | |
| Married | 1,176 | 65.5 | 49 | 40.2 | |
| Widowed/Divorced | 176 | 9.8 | 27 | 22.1 | |
| live alone | 89 | 5.0 | 7 | 5.7 | |
| with spouse, no child | 267 | 14.9 | 8 | 6.6 | |
| with child(ren), no spouse | 154 | 8.6 | 20 | 16.4 | |
| with spouse and child(ren) | 850 | 47.4 | 40 | 32.8 | |
| with others only | 436 | 24.3 | 48 | 38.5 | |
| Isolated | 443 | 24.7 | 61 | 50.0 | |
| High risk | 405 | 22.5 | 30 | 24.6 | |
| Moderate risk | 443 | 24.7 | 18 | 14.8 | |
| Low risk | 506 | 28.2 | 13 | 10.7 | |
The above percentages reflected weighted column %.
Correlation matrix (95% CI), means and standard deviations of continuous social isolation indicators, loneliness and depressive symptom score (N = 1,919).
| Social connectedness with relatives | Social connectedness with friends | LSNS-6 social isolation | loneliness | Depressive symptom score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | - | - | - | - | |
| 0.45 | 1 | - | - | - | |
| (0.41, 0.48) | |||||
| 0.79 | 0.89 | 1 | - | - | |
| (0.78, 0.81) | (0.88, 0.90) | ||||
| -0.14 | -0.14 | -0.16 | 1 | - | |
| (-0.19, -0.10) | (-0.18, -0.10) | (-0.21, -0.12) | |||
| -0.15 | -0.13 | -0.16 | 0.32 | 1 | |
| (-0.19, -0.10) | (-0.18, -0.09) | (-0.21, -0.12) | (0.27, 0.36) | ||
| 9.0 ± 3.2 | 7.5 ± 4.0 | 16.4 ± 6.1 | 3.4 ± 1.0 | 1.1 ± 2.4 |
p-values for all the correlation coefficients were <0.001.
Linear regression analyses for depressive symptoms.
| Variables | Coefficients | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Regression 1 | Regression 2 | Regression 3 | |
| Age | -0.03 | -0.05 | -0.01 |
| Female (Ref. Male) | 0.07 | 0.06 | 0.06 |
| Ethnicity (Ref. Chinese) | |||
| Malay | 0.03 | 0.02 | 0.02 |
| Indian | 0.00 | 0.01 | 0.01 |
| Others | 0.05 | 0.05 | 0.03 |
| Employment status (Ref. Employed) | |||
| Unemployed | 0.15 | 0.12 | 0.09 |
| Inactive | 0.01 | 0.00 | -0.01 |
| Money insufficiency | 0.16 | 0.13 | 0.10 |
| Currently smoking (Ref. not smoking) | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.01 |
| Alcohol abuse | 0.08 | 0.08 | 0.07 |
| Previous diagnosis of depression | 0.23 | 0.22 | 0.19 |
| Number of chronic conditions | 0.18 | 0.17 | 0.14 |
| Marital status (Ref. Single) | |||
| Married | -0.11 | -0.06 | |
| Widowed /Divorced | 0.01 | 0.00 | |
| Living arrangement (Ref. With spouse & child(ren)) | |||
| Alone | -0.07 | -0.05 | |
| With spouse, no child | 0.01 | 0.01 | |
| With child(ren), no spouse | -0.01 | 0.00 | |
| With others only | -0.04 | -0.02 | |
| Social connectedness with relatives | -0.06 | -0.04 | |
| Social connectedness with friends | -0.11 | -0.07 | |
| Loneliness | 0.33 | ||
| R2 | 0.18 | 0.20 | 0.30 |
| ΔR2 | - | 0.02 | 0.10 |
* p<0.05.
**p<0.01.
***p<0.001.